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West Canyon - Tiger Route

On April 15th, 2016, Tom Collins, Mark Burnham, Steph and I completed an exploration of what we call the Tiger Route. Sam Goodhue and Tony Long were the rim team. Jim Clery had to leave a day early, so he did not join us on this day.

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West Canyon - Tiger Route

While sitting around camp the night before Tiger, the topic of flash floods came up. Jim shared his story about passing the group of seven that was killed in Keyhole by a flash flood this past summer. It was sobering to hear about his close brush with death; it planted nervous seeds in each of our minds as menacing clouds passed overhead.

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When morning arrived the weather was windy and cold. Black clouds loomed in the distance. I was feeling antsy, eager to do an exploration after sitting on the sidelines the previous day.

Each of us seemed nervous and hesitant. We did not want the rim team to suffer excessively in the cold, so we all agreed that the upper reaches of Tiger were overkill. We thoroughly scouted the lower section of the drainage, looking for X-rated stemming or signs of enormous potholes. The canyon looked reasonably friendly from above.

Steph, Tom and I rapped into the drainage and immediately donned wetsuits. We splashed down a section of easy obstacles, communicating with the rim team above about the weather. Soon, Tom, Steph and I reached a deep keeper pothole.

Tom went in first, followed by Steph. I stayed out in case we needed to reverse. Then Tom boosted Steph out, in fine form:

On the far side of the pothole was an overhung 30 foot rappel into a water filled chamber. I farmed some sand for the Sandtrap, crossed the pothole, then rapped off Steph into the chamber. Steph and Tom set up a hanging Sandtrap on the exit wall of the pothole, then Tom rapped into the chamber with me. Steph came down last while giving me precise instructions to dump the sand out of the Trap while she unweighted it. It was a symphony of technique, and Steph was the conductor.

The inside of the chamber was amazing. Three large bridges crossed the span within, impossible to photograph all at once. The sounds of our awestruck voices tortured the rim team above. The sun momentarily showed its face, prodding Mark to join us, so he rapped in just below the chamber then hiked upstream to get a peek.

Then we headed downstream and turned a corner to behold the biggest keeper pothole, by double, that I’ve ever seen. My first and only thought was, “That pothole is going to stop us. Thank God we have a rim team.”

Tom and Mark instantly went into Potshot throwing mode. The entry side of the keeper was somewhat similar to the Pit of Despair, so they already had a plan for this. They took turns bracing and throwing half-full potshots. Each came up short, but not for lack of effort or technique. I’m certain they could have made the throws with one-third full potshots.

After a few throws, Mark went into the pothole to retrieve a potshot and rope that had fallen in. He soon discovered that the water was not quite as deep as it looked. He grabbed the wet potshot and gave it a throw. Missed. Again. Made it! Then he threw another and it stuck! Whew!!

Once Mark was certain the Potshots would hold, he batmanned up the overhung lip holding just two lines!! WHOA!!! Victory! We rapped into the monster pothole off of a Sandtrap then overcame the exit lip using various non-batmannish methods. We shouted to the rim team that we had conquered the pothole. They said they were going to head back to camp because they could no longer traverse the top of the canyon above us. This sounded agreeable to all of us.

We headed down another drop, then stuck a Sandtrap. Mark upclimbed the drop and heroically retrieved it, then downclimbed the drop (amazing!). We were feeling pretty good about what we had just accomplished. We were at the Lion/Tiger junction, faced with a straightforward 40 foot rappel from a Sandtrap into the familiar narrows of Lion.

Then it began to rain.

Adrenalin surged as we all kicked into a higher gear. I rapped off Tom into Lion, then he threw down a 100 footer for me to rig at a bolted rappel downcanyon. I set the rope at the bolts and was down the rope in an instant. There I waited.

Then it began to rain hard. Then rain then turned to sleet.

Ten minutes was a very long time to stay put while staring the Grim Reaper in the eye. That same ten minute span was a very short time to set up a Sandtrap, send three people, then retrieve the Trap. I’m impressed and thankful they were so damn fast.

The next 350 yards of canyon was a blur of teamwork, panic and speed. What took an hour during the first visit flew by in about ten minutes. We bombed down slides and downclimbs without regard to limb, only regard to life. There was a moment when the canyon channeled each of us through a shower of rainwater that streamed disconcertingly from the top of the slot onto the narrow floor below. It was truly the stuff of nightmares.

The cathedral was an evil place compared to the first visit. Water trickled in from high above, so there was no time to marvel at its beauty. We ran through and jumped the last drop. We had survived the Tiger route. WHEW!

Soon we were all back at camp. All of the aches and pains from the trip were temporarily numbed by adrenalin. We were (and are) quite happy to be alive.

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Rough beta:

We entered the canyon here, rapping from meat: 36 55 47 N 111 02 30 W
There are two big keeper potholes in this canyon. Both must be handled with care.
A rim team is suggested for this route. If the biggest keeper were ¾ full, it could easily stop a group.
One Sandtrap is required.
3 Potshots are recommended.
The longest rap is about 40 feet, but you will need a couple of longer ropes for conquering the potholes. A couple of 100 footers and a short rope should work well.
The rappel after the biggest keeper can be downclimbed by the highly skilled.
Tiger joins Lion just before the bolted anchor in Lion.

Its a little blurry and the memories are tinged with a dose of fear, being in canyon while it was raining, but I couldn't help but admire the added level of beauty that the rain added to an already incredible place.

FYI- This route had a name prior to you assigning it "Tiger Route" which may quite possibly be the worst name I've ever seen for a canyon. I would suggest the original name.

I would also suggest you add a thank-you note in your posted beta to the first descent team and subsequent descenders that made it possible for you to also have the exploration experience there by not posting beta, not leaving bolts, and being careful not even to leave rope grooves. Too bad no one else will ever have that same experience.

It should be noted that the first descent team did not use a rim team for this canyon and that seems like dramatic overkill for a team experienced in negotiating canyons in this area.

Glad you had fun, it truly is a great canyon, one of my favorites. But you probably ought to ask around a bit before renaming canyons, much less widely publicizing their location, unless you want all of Southern Utah on a permit system like Zion and soon to be Arches are. There's not that many people exploring canyons in that area. I'm sure you know the main players and how to contact them.

Wow! I need to find some canyoneer groupies that will applaud my awesomeness and numerous first claimed descents. Their reward will be to post banter in canyon forums and praise me for my greatness.

FWIW: Be careful claiming first descents, because the one thing I have learned from my numerous years of canyoneering is they very seldom are. Too many people came before with other agendas that have descended the canyons. For instance all of the Lake Powell canyon were first explored in the 1950's by survey crews, and those guys were some badass hardcore men that were born pre everyone gets a trophy.

How do you ask around about a canyon, if it's been named / descended before, if you don't want to bring attention to the canyon? I assume you'd need to post a few pictures somewhere, with a location and some description. But wouldn't that also publicize the canyon and spark general interest in it?

I mean, if texting or emailing a handful of people doesn't work in obtaining more info, how else can you find out about it without bringing it into the spotlight?

Anywho... back to the Trip Report. Thanks for posting, looks like a great canyon.

FYI- This route had a name prior to you assigning it "Tiger Route" which may quite possibly be the worst name I've ever seen for a canyon.

I knew of that canyon, but I don't know the previous name. The worst names for a canyon, however belong to whoever named the side forks of Warm Springs. I don't know who named them, but those names are terrible.

But you probably ought to ask around a bit before renaming canyons

Many groups rename canyons. I agree with you that the earliest names should be used, if known, but the groups making the descents of those canyons whom you are referring to as the "main players" are also renaming canyons. I am friends with some of them.

unless you want all of Southern Utah on a permit system like Zion and soon to be Arches are.

The canyon in question is already on a permit system and it is just as restrictive as the Zion and Arches permit system, with the exception of group size.

Anyway, I have always defended those who choose to keep canyons secret and those who are in the "show, but not tell" group. I support this viewpoint that people have a right to do this.

That said though, if someone finds a canyon all on their own, they are free to do what they want with the beta. Of course they should still take care of the canyon.

Utah is a very special and unique place. There is no where else like it on earth. Please take care of it and keep the remaining wild areas in pristine condition. The world will be a better place if you do.

The online mudslinging isn't necessary. Some people descend unpublished canyons and then keep them secret. Some people descend unpublished canyons and then publish beta. There are merits to both, but no right or wrong answer, best to try and understand the other side's point rather than drive yours home with sarcasm and vitrol.

In these trip reports the canyons are referred to by the working names that Bob gave them, presumably because at the time they were written no info was available regarding any previous names? If you check the Super Amazing Canyoneering Map, a community resource maintained by Bob, you'll notice that the Tiger Route is labeled Arch Nemesis, The Cheetah Route is labeled Happy Ending and the Lion Route is named Upper Slot of West Canyon. No one is trying to rename canyons.

Having a rim team allowed the in-canyon team to descend quickly, without fixing ropes at each drop. This was done because a storm was moving in and we had two members sitting this one out already who volunteered to be rim team.

If you'd be interested in sharing the story of the descent team who named this canyon Arch Nemesis, it would be a welcomed addition to this thread.

West Canyon - Tiger Route

I wasn't going to post here but since it's been dredged back up...

I was in the group that did the likely first descent of this canyon a couple years ago. We operated on this assumption due to a complete lack of evidence of previous passage, mainly rope grooves and the fact that The tools used to ghost canyons like this are a fairly new developments in this obscure practice. We had a variety of tools at our disposal that allowed us to cleanly ghost it, tools regrettably not available to any groups that followed us.

It is not likely that anyone from the glen canyon survey group descended this canyon either. They simply didn't have a reason to and given the lack of these specialized tools in an era of man conquering nature, surely they would have left signs of passage in the form of hardware or defaced rock.

We explored this as a wilderness canyon and chose not to publish it in the interest of preserving it in its wild state in hopes that subsequent explorers could experience it just as we did, anew, with no evidence of our passage. That is the essence of the philosophy of most of the Glen Canyoneers with whom I associate. A "local ethic" if you will. It is not an exclusive group. It is very inclusive and information is liberally shared by word of mouth if you are but willing to honor the requests of the explorers by preserving the area as an adventure preserve and not publish it online. Pretty simple.
I think this accomplishes many purposes, one of the greatest of which is to build
a sense of community among those with a shared passion. It also fosters an ethic of conservation and accountability. You get to hear first hand accounts of adventure and misadventure from the brave souls who were the explorers. It really is a wonderful thing. It's virtue may be hard to see until you have experienced it but it exists, I promose.

I have descended the canyon 3 times now and saw that we left no evidence of passage between descents 1 and 2. There were, however, rope grooves in 2 places after at least one subsequent exploration. A disappointment but perhaps also an opportunity to share and educate others on the ethic of ghosting and it's logical philosophical extension of non publishing.

We actually named the canyon Arch Rival. Bob was informed of this and I chalk up the discrepancy to simple error. I commend him on his attempt to respect the original name however.

I recognize that people have the right to publish what they find and can only ask that they reconsider their decision to do so with future finds for the sake of preserving the spirit of exploration that was preserved for them. it will all be found and degraded eventually, why not buy some time?

I share this philosophy in hopes that it might gain followers within the community.

I posit that just because the Internet exists, doesn't mean everything has to be put there. I would hope that no one ever takes a drone to places like this considering that there are fewer and fewer wild and secret places with each passing year and that there is value in keeping certain treasures from the eyes of the world, that there is value in leaving something for those with a spirit of exploration. These things can only be preserved or lost, never regained and there are less of them with the passage of time.